My journey begins at Dewford
by redlerred7
Summary: Alex just got his first pokemon and wants to become the new Hoen League Champion. Will this boy from a small island town manage to achieve it? Probably. It's pokemon after all. Join him and his mother in his journey to the top. Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon... But I seriously wish I did
1. Chapter 1

**A Pokemon fanfiction. I do not own pokemon... but I seriously wish I did.**

**So this is just a little something that I made with the intention of making a one shot. I accidentally made it too open ended but at least is it can still work as a one shot… right?**

**Who am I kidding?**

**I hope you enjoy**

* * *

"Aron, use metal claw!" I ordered my pokemon

Aron dashed forward and slashed at the Sableye in front of it.

"_Alright, that should be enough_" I thought as I threw my pokeball at the wild pokemon.

The ball made a direct hit and was now shaking violently. After a few minutes, the pokemon gave up and allowed itself to be captured.

"Yes!" I shouted as I had just caught my third pokemon

* * *

My name is Alex. I'm a pokemon trainer from Dewford town. I got my first pokemon a few days. He was an Aron. I decided that I would train him to be the strongest pokemon in the world and face the Elite 4 with him.

In my training I managed to catch a Wingull, and a Sableye. I managed to get them to a high enough level to face my first gym. I hope Brawly is a good fighter

o0o0o0o

"Hello? Anyone there?" I asked as I peered into a dark and empty gym.

"HELLO THERE!" a guy with glasses jumped at me, scaring me to my wits end

"Arceus almighty, what is wrong with you!?" I shouted at him.

"Oh, sorry. I'm new here. Hi, I'm this gym's new guide. I'm here to help any newbies with problems" the guy said to me.

"Well… why is it completely dark in there? I thought this gym was open"

"Oh, it is open. Don't worry; the trainers here just like to train in the dark."

"… uh huh…"

I didn't know if what that man said was true and if so why they did it, but it seemed that I had to fight in the dark

"Just because _they_ fight in the dark doesn't mean you _have_ to. Here's a small light. The trainers will make the lights inside brighter if you defeat them. Try and get through the maze to Brawly." The man told me

"Uh… thanks. Okay well, I'll see you when I win" I gave him a nervous thumbs-up

"You sure are confident" The man commented "Good luck then"

I walked into the darkness of the gym's maze

o0o0o0o

"Wingull, watergun!" With a graceful dive, Wingull blasted the enemy's Machop from above with water before pulling up right before it hit the ground

"Machop, karate chop!" the gym trainer yelled

"Wingull, give him another watergun!" Wingull circled around to shoot another burst of water at the machop before banking a bit to the right to _just_ dodge the karate chop.

The machop fell on its back and didn't get up again.

"Machop, return" The trainer pointed a pokeball at the fallen pokemon and it proceeded to dissolve into the ball.

"That was a great battle. You've got skill, boy. But if you think you can beat Brawley, you may need a bit more training" the gym trainer said with a smirk "Hey Alan! The kid beat me! Turn on some more lights!"

The darkness surrounding me slowly grew brighter.

I have defeated three trainers now. At this point, I could see without the help of the flashlight that guy gave me earlier. My only problem would be my pokemon's heath. They weren't doing too good. They may not have had that much injury, but a pokemon can only take so much fighting before it needs to take a break.

"So what do you say guys? Should I keep going or do you want to take a rest first?" I asked my team

From within their pokeballs, I saw the fire in their eyes; the look that told me they wanted to fight. It was all the answers I needed as I continued navigating the maze.

* * *

"You've been doin' great to get this far." A blue haired surfer dude told me "The name's Brawly. Pleasure to meet ya, dude"

"My name's Alex. Ditto"

"So dude, this your first gym battle?" Brawly asked me

"Yeah"

"Alright then. I'll be usin' these two" Brawly walked to a podium that had six greatballs on it and selected two from the group.

"Makuhita, Meditite!" He threw the balls in the air and out came his two pokemon.

"Okay then." I said

I studied his pokemon. They were both fighting type, except meditate was also psychic. None of their attacks would work on Sableye, but I don't want to use her yet. Wingull should be safe from them since he's a flying type, but Aron's a rock and steel type. He's really vulnerable to their attacks… I have an idea

"Brawley, is it okay if we face in a double battle?" I asked him

Brawley looked at me with a grin. "Sure thing, kiddo'."

"Alright. Aron, Wingull, I choose you!"

Aron, Meditite, and Makuhita stood on the middle of the battle ground with Wingull circling above.

No one made a move. We were both holding our breaths, waiting for the other to attack.

Not yet. Wait for it Alex. It'll come

Brawley exhaled.

My chance had come "Aron, dig; Wingull, wing attack!" Aron disappeared with a cloud of dust and the sound of broken concrete. Wingull dove, wings stretched, hoping to hit both adversaries at once.

Meditite dive rolled away from the attack but Makuhita took a solid hit from Wingull.

"Aron, take out Meditite!" Aron exploded from the ground and hit Meditite, who had just gotten to her feet upon finishing her summersault. She stumbled back

"Arm thrust!" Brawley's Makuhita palm slammed Aron away from Meditite. He then followed with another, and another.

"Wingull, protect Aron. Watergun" Right before Makuhita was able to make another hit, he was blasted by water and got pushed back.

"Aron, metal claw" Aron got up and took advantage of Makuhita's stagger and swiped at his stomach.

"Focus Punch" Meditite jumped over the Makuhita slumped on the floor and was about to hit Aron with a focus punch that was bound to knock it out

"Wingull-" I was about to give the order but it was too late. Meditite landed a solid focus punch right to Aron's face. Aron was out cold.

"Supersonic" I finished my order and Wingull made a sudden descent in front of Meditite and rang out a high pitched wave of sound. Meditite was put in a reeling state of confusion.

"Aron, come back and rest" Aron promptly returned to its pokeball. "Go, Sableye!"

"Makuhita, use arm thrust on Wingull!"

"Wingull, dodge it!"

Wingull dove for Makuhita and slammed its wings on his head before pulling up, knocking Makuhita out.

"Feeling cocky aren't we Wingull?"

"Focus punch on Wingull" Wingull was circling back when Meditite pounced on him.

"Sableye, block the hit!" Sableye jumped in front of Wingull. Sableye was hit and ignored it completely.

"Wingull, watergun!"

"Dodge it, Meditite"

Meditite attempted to dive out of the way, but she was still out of it from the supersonic dealt on her earlier. She ended up toppling to the ground. She did end up dodging the water gun, though, not that it meant much.

Wingull was circling back and was nearly upon Meditite "Wing attack!" Wingull dropped and crashed into her, failing to pull out of the dive.

* * *

"This is what you get for showing off" I scolded while I treated Wingull's broken wings with the miracle-cure known as potions. Amazing things science can do right? If only it could be used on people…

Wingull squaked in pain as the potion stung him. "Don't worry Wingull. I just need to get you to a pokemon center and you'll be fine in no time."

The room was flooded with light when all the windows and lights were opened.

"Dude, that was an awesome battle. Here kid, take this. This is the knuckle badge" Brawley handed me a pin "This badge is proof that you beat me. It's also a licence to light up dark places like caves with pokemon attacks like flash."

Hey took out a disk "I also give you this. It's TM. With that, you can teach your pokemon _Bulk up_. It makes your pokemon tougher for a few minutes. I didn't really get to use it in our fight. You kept me on my toes, dude, you know that? So what do you plan on doing now?"

"I plan on going to the mainland. Face the other gyms there."

"Good. I wish you luck on your journey."

"Thanks Brawley."

I walked out of the gym.

"That was so awesome!" The guy wearing glasses shouted at me "Your pokemon were like whoosh! And Brawley's were like wham! And when your Aron exploded from the ground and it was like BOOM! I swear that was the most amazing fight I've ever seen!" The man said with the excitement one would expect from a child

"… uh" I was a little embarrassed by him "aren't you new here? I'm sure there have been a lot of battles that were way cooler than this one" I said with a blush

"Yeah, well duh. That's why said 'the most amazing fight _I've seen_' I haven't seen better ones yet" The guy's tone changed dramatically. It was now dry and sarcastic.

"… uh huh" I was confused "Okay then."

I hope not all gym guides are like that. I though as I continued my way home.

* * *

When I got home, I checked the mailbox and waved at Pix, the Tropius our dad brought home when he went on his journey.

I went inside to find my mother in the living room watching the local news. It was showing the match I had at the gym earlier.

"You're very skilled in battling." My mother complimented me "You're just like your father. Did you train at the cave?"

"Yeah, and at the shoreline at the north of the island too." I need to tell her now or else I'll never go ahead with it. "Mom, I've decided to go on a journey to become the Hoen League's new champion"

"Really? Who's gonna pay for it?" My mom asked disapprovingly

I frowned. I expected her to disapproved, but not like this. "I'll pay with the prize money I get for winning battles"

"What if you lose?"

"I'll only lose half my money, mom"

"Gambling is not a good thing, son" she countered

"Maybe I should have asked dad. He would have just said yes."

"Look, Alex. I want to see you on TV defeating the Hoen champion as much as any mother would, but I'm concerned for you." My mom told me "What if you run out of money? We only have enough money to get you on a boat to Slateport or Petalburg. We're not in close relations with anyone who has a boat that can take you to either. And what about after you get there? Bus rides are cheap but will eventually weigh down heavily on you."

"Mom, I'm gonna be walking. I need to catch and train pokemon, remember?"

"Oh yes, I guess I forgot that…" My mother looked distantly at the corner of the room "Still, I'll be very worried about you."

"I'll call every day whenever I'm at a pokemon center"

"Those places are safe right?"

"Mom, it's a hospital for pokemon. Of course it's safe. It's required by law to be safe."

"… okay. When do you plan on leaving?"

"The moment I buy the boat ticket"

"Well… I hope you have fun" She said with a trace of sadness in her voice

"Mom…"

"I'll be lonely with you gone"

"You'll still have dad right? And uncle?"

"I guess"

"Tell you what. I'll wait until we have enough money for two boat tickets so you can join me."

"You'll do that for me?"

"Yes, mom. Just promise me you won't embarrass me."

"I won't… much"

"I guess that means you'll try… That's good enough for me"

"Okay. I'll call your father and see if he can help with this" she said cheerfully

"Will he be having dinner with us?" I was glad that mom was no longer gloomy

"Yes. I suppose he will"

With that I headed up stairs to my room.

* * *

I woke up feeling as if metal weights were put onto my chest while I was asleep. In a way, you could say that _was_ the case.

"Tank, please get off me" I had decided to name my Aron Tank. It took a while for him to get used to the name, but eventually it grew on him.

I has also named my Wingull Ace, and my Sableye Opal.

Tank jumped off my bed, making a painfully conspicuous landing. Well… now they know I'm up.

"Alex, time to get up! Our boat will leave a ten-thirty!"

Two weeks have passed since I defeated Brawley and I was training hard. But there's only so much training one could do at the same level before feeling the need to train at a higher level. The pokemon on this island have become too easy for pokemon to fight, and just in time, we finally got enough money for two tickets to Slateport.

Truth be told, we had the money for a week and a half, but my mom wanted to have a buffer fund for us.

So that day, I, with my pokemon (Tank the Aron, Ace the Wingull, and Opal the Sableye), my mom, and her pokemon (Pix the Tropius), set out on a journey to become the Hoen League Champion

* * *

**Ending notes:**

**- I don't watch the anime so I don't know how Brawly talks in that, but in the game, he didn't have enough personality. I gave him a surfer-dude kind of personality. I'm sorry if it's OOC.**  
**- Aron, and Sableye can both be caught at the cave north of Dewford. Wingull can be caught when surfing the waters around Dewford.**  
**- Sableye is a Ghost/Dark type if I remember correctly. No attack Brawley's or his mooks' pokemon can throw at her will do any damage.**  
**- I planned on adding a scene where Alex fails to catch an Abra, but I sorta got lazy.**  
**- I hope you guys enjoyed :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**It's an okay chapter, I swear. Please read… Okay fine, if it's not good tell me what I did wrong so I can work on it some more. I know I can't please everyone, but I at least aim to please a lot. Reviews are appreciated**

* * *

"Aww man. She worries about money but the moment we reach Slateport, she disappears into the seaside market"

My mom, as stated had left me at the port and wandered off to the market. I was searching for her until a voice cried out from the crowds of people near the shipyard

"Hey you! You're a pokemon trainer, right?" A young boy asked me "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

"Are you sure you want to fight me? After all I've got a badge already" I warned him as I selected a pokeball from my belt

"Well I've got a badge too! As far as I can tell, were evenly matched. Let's battle!"

"Okay then" a crowd began to form around us, eager to watch a battle between the two newbies.

"I CHOOSE YOU!" they both sent out their pokemon

Ace, my Wingull materialized mid-flight doing loops and twirls and generally showing off.

My opponent also had a Wingull.

The two birds circled each other.

Without waiting any time, the boy gave an attack command to his Wingull

"Water gun!"

"Dodge it and use steel wing!"

The enemy Wingull began chasing Ace, trying to get a good shot it but failing. Ace was weaving around the light posts and flag poles that littered the harbor, making sudden dives and steep ascents in an attempt to keep from getting hit. Every single one of the opponent's watergun attacks were dispersed by an obstacle or missed completely.

The enemy Wingull nearly caught up to Ace. That was when Ace decided to dive. The enemy saw this and attempted to dive as well only to see that Ace opened his wings right as he began to dive and stalled. The enemy tried to pull up but Ace was too fast and slammed two steel coated wings on the wingull's sides.

The enemy Wingull nearly crashed.

"Wingull!" The boy shouted "Return!"

"Hey! The battle's not over! Don't tell me you're running away" I complained

"I'm not running away, I'm just switching out." The boy said obnoxiously "Go Plusle!"

A red and yellow mouse appeared from his pokeball, static electricity discharging from it when it came in contact with the air

An electric type, huh? "Ace, come back. Come out, Tank!"

My Aron materialized in the air and landed on the ground with a metallic thunk.

"Plusle, Thundershock!" The rat pokemon dashed to Aron, trying to get close enough to discharge the electricity.

"Dig!" Tank dove into the ground.

Plusle stopped, her target was nowhere to be seen and neither she, nor her trainer could sense where the steel type was.

"Plusle, let's make sure he doesn't hit you. Double team"

Plusle curled up, ready to unleash the illusionary technique, but at _that_ moment, Tank launched out of the ground.

"Follow up with metal claw" Plusle was put through an onslaught of metal claw after claw. Not having enough recovery time to counter or dodge.

Tank suddenly stopped. Electricity arching over him. He was paralyzed. That realization put a certain fear in me.

"My pokemon's special ability is called static…" The boy said with a grin

"Tank get out of there!"

Tank made an attempt to dig but was moving too sluggish. "Thundershock!" Plusle took hold of Tank's head then lit up with yellow light as electricity discharged into Tank, the ground, and the air itself.

"Tank!" He was still standing, but barely. "Return!"

"What are you gonna do? Gonna send out your Wingull? Don't you have any _other_ pokemon?" The boy said with a smirk

I'm gonna wipe that grin off your face, I thought. "Opal, time for battle!"

Sableye flashed into existence

"Plusle, thundershock!"

"Nighshade!"

The fast approaching Plusle was met with a pulse of darkness, sending in back before it got in range for its electric attack.

"Nightshade, again!" another wave of darkness knocked Plusle back.

"If Opal doesn't touch her, she'll be all fine right?" I asked my opponent with a similar smirk

The boy didn't answer, obviously not liking where this is going.

"Plusle, quick attack"

"Flash"

A near-blinding flash erupted from Opal right as Plusle was aiming her attack. The attack missed

"Nightshade!" The intense light became a powerful darkness and Plusle was once again knocked to the ground, only this time, she didn't get up.

"Return! No fair! You're using an HM move! How do you even get those!?"

"I got it from a friend. HMs aren't all that rare these days you know?"

"Fine! Wingull!"

"Return, Opal. Ace, I choose you!"

"You want to continue what we started?"

"No, I want to end it. I still need to find my mom"

"You're lost and can't find your mommy?"

"No, _she's_ lost and can't find me I've got most of our money."

"Wow really? That means when I beat you, I'll get lots on cash!"

"Like that'll happen"

"Hurry up and fight!" a person from the crowd shouted.

Rude aren't you? Why? Are you the one battling? No, you're just watching. I frowned. Never mind him, Alex. He's just a distraction

"Ace, Watergun!" a blast of water hit the enemy Wingull as Ace flew past

"Darn it! Wingull, you use watergun too!"

"Dodge and use steel wing" Dodge he did. The enemy got steel to the sides.

"Ace, water gun!"

"You too Wingull!"

The two were locked in a rolling-scissor, coiling around each other, trying to stay out of the other's line of fire and at the same time trying to get a clear shot

Ace suddenly stalled and blasted the enemy wingull from behind. The wingull fell into a downward spiral.

Before the enemy righted itself and pulled up, "Ace, wing attack!" Ace dove in with a mighty slash, knocking the Wingull out and to the ground

"Aww no! There goes the money I got from beating Wattson…"

I don't know what I was thinking but "Don't worry kid. Keep the money. But tell me, who's Wattson?"

"He's the leader to the Mauville City gym! I beat him easily"

"Then he shouldn't be much of a challenge" I smirked

"Hey, give the guy some credit. He took it easy since it was my first gym battle. When I saw him fight a guy who already had seven badges, he started using pokemon that couldn't even be found in this region!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah! Lanturn, Electabuzz, Ampharos. They were like nothing I've ever seen!"

"I bet the Elite 4 are still more powerful than him"

"Yeah, well, duh. They're the strongest trainers around. But someday, _I'll_ be more powerful than the Elite 4"

"And when that day comes, you'll be facing me, the champion"

The boy grinned "We'll see about that. Well later. My mom's probably looking for me"

With that the boy ran off

And he was mocking _me_ for losing my mom in the market.

I sent out Ace and told him to look for mom from the air while I looked at street level.

* * *

"Mom! There you are!" The entire day has passed by the time I found my mom. She was at a stall that had just a laptop on its counter. There were several boxes behind, but none of them were open

"Oh, Alex. I was just checking out this shop" My mom said "It seems intriguing."

Intriguing?

"What do you sell?" I asked the clerk

"It's a secret" the clerk replied, smiling

… Uh huh…

"Why is it a secret?"

"Because you're not a member"

"How do you become a member?"

"You'll find out when you meet a member out in the wild" The clerk said cryptically with an annoying grin.

"… What?" I'm getting tired of answers that don't explain anything and just give me more questions

"That's all I'm allowed to tell you"

Well that's that. I can tell why mom thought it was intriguing, though.

"C'mon, mom. We're not gonna get any more answers from this guy." I told her "Besides, I've gotten all the supplies we need here." I have. Everything in the checklist is done.

"Okay then"

I walked her to the pokemon center where stayed the night. The next day we left town for Mauville.

* * *

It was a new day and I was in another pokemon battle. This time with a trainer I met on the road.

"Wurmple, poison sting!"

"That's not gonna work on him! Metal Claw, Tank!"

The barb of toxic chemicals rushed towards my Aron and bounced off his metallic hide. Tank bounded towards the enemy Wurmple and slashed thrice in succession, causing the caterpillar to lose consciousness.

"Alright!" I looked at my Aron "… Tank…?"

Tank was glowing – changing shape – EVOLVING!

His short spherical body elongated into a long, rounded, but flat body. His egg shaped head compressed into a triangular one. His short stumpy legs grew to become less stumpy and have claws. He grew a tail. His back began forming ridges and smooth-pointed spikes. Tank, my Aron has become a Lairon.

"Awesome! Thanks dude" I tell the bug catcher

"Uh… you're welcome?" The boy was about to give me the prize money

"No. Keep it. Consider this thanks for helping Tank evolve"

"Actually, all your previous battles contributed to him evolving. Here, dude, just take it." The bug catcher handed me the money "Rules are rules"

When the bug catcher continued on walking, I was met by a raised eyebrow from my mother

"If you're going to refuse the prize money from every battle you win, how will you be able to pay for your supplies if and when we use up our journey-fund?" She asked me

"Sorry. I know I said I'd use the money from battles to fund my trip, but I'm just not comfortable with taking people's money"

"That's because I taught you not to gamble." My mother said with a smirk "Don't worry. As long as you don't start seeing this as just a way to get easy cash and still see it as fun, I'll approve of this"

We continued our trek through route 110

* * *

Another day and we were still walking route 110

"I think it's annoying how the country restricts the use of cars for civilians" I said. My thoughts were of topics like that for a while now.

"You're eleven years old. You don't own a car, and even if you did, you're not old enough to drive" My mom said from the back of Pix, our family's Tropius.

"Well, maybe if I got to ride on Pix for a while, I wouldn't get so worked up about cars and bikes and running shoes." I told her

"You don't need a car, all terrain bikes are only sold at Mauville City, and running shoes are expensive" My mom countered.

"Mauville should be just a few day from here." I said hopefully "Maybe–"

"No." She cut me off

"Why not?" I complained.

"Bikes are twice as expensive as running shoes"

"Then will you get me run–"

"No" she cut me off again

"Oh come on!"

"Maybe you should catch a pokemon of your own that you can ride as well." She suggested

"hmm" I thought about it for a bit

She's right. It is both cheaper and more convenient to have some sort of pokemon to ride. I wonder what pokemon I could use…

"There are Poochyena in this area, right? If I get one to evolve into a Mightyena, I should be able to ride it"

"There you go. Go catch one, then" My mother egged me on. "I'll make camp somewhere close. I'll have lunch ready by the time you're back"

"Thanks mom!" I ran off into the woods, taking note of the land marks I passed.

* * *

I found a Poochyena in the middle of clearing and proceeded to fight it.

"Pokeball, go!" I threw my pokeball at the weakened Poochyena.

The ball was knocked away by the Mightyena that suddenly jumped in front of her it.

That must be the mother, I thought. She was not happy to see her pup in the state he was in, and saw that the one that put him in that state was none other than me and Ace.

Sensing I was in deep trouble,

"Sorrygottagobye!" I ran as fast as possible, having Ace cover me from the pursuing angry mother.

Eventually, the pokemon gave up. Lucky for me, I only had Ace use a couple of weak waterguns attacks and a supersonic on the young Poochyena, or else the Mightyena might have kept on chasing me for a whole lot longer.

* * *

I got away from the Mightyena but in the process, I got myself lost.

While fumbling around in the woods with no idea where I was, I came across a small Absol. It was young, probably not older than I was in pokemon terms.

"Hey there. Absol aren't normally found here aren't they?"

It seemed to be beckoning me to follow it.

"You're the disaster pokemon, right? Is something about to happen?"

The creature nodded. I decided to follow.

* * *

As I was walking with the Absol, there was a sudden earthquake. The Absol knocked me off my feet and began carrying me on its back into a clearing. The sound of trees falling down followed after.

"Thanks" I told the pokemon

The Absol nodded in curt reply then urged me to keep moving.

"Okay, let's go."

I continued following the Absol, but the pace she took was faster than before. This must be urgent.

* * *

We reached another clearing. At the edge of it was a Mightyena beside a fallen tree. Under the said tree was a Poochyena.

The Mightyena growled menacingly at me.

The Absol looked at the Mightyena and it stopped growling.

"I think I can help" I sent out my Lairon "Tank, help me get that Poochyena out from under that tree"

Tank began to dig the pokemon out while I, Mightyena, and Absol were attempting to lift the tree.

After a few tense minutes of pushing and digging, the Poochyena managed to break free.

I gave the injured pokemon some potions and oran berries then said my farewells to the two as they walked into the forests.

I turned to the Absol "You're nice, you know that?"

The Absol nodded then padded away to the edge of the clearing. It turned back towards me then took a stance. It wants to fight.

I grinned. "What do you say, Tank? Want to take him on?"

With a roar of agreement, Tank charged into battle.

"Take down!" Tank charged the Absol who gracefully dodged.

"Alright then, Iron Tail!" once again, Absol dodged the attack. Absol dashed towards Tank with a quick attack. While it wasn't very effective, it did a good bit of damage.

"Darn it! Tank, Dig"

The Absol took advantage of the pause in the battle by using swords dance.

My Lairon erupted from the ground behind Absol.

"Iron Tail." The Absol parried with a slash attack.

"Take down" Absol jumped over the attack

Absol dashed in for another slash

"Iron Defence!" The slash attack bounced off Lairon

"Take down!" Still stunned from the attack failing, Absol was slammed by a mass of iron.

"Iron tail!" Tank quickly turned and bashed his tail on the Absol's side.

"Finish off with another iron tail!" The jumped over the iron tail and slashed upward with its claws, knocking my Lairon on its back.

The Absol did a swords dance and quickly followed with a razor wind.

Tank, unable to right itself, got caught in the wave of air, receiving critical damage.

"Tank, get up!" the Lairon was still stuck on its back.

Absol did a frenzy of slash attacks to Tank's vulnerable underbelly. It was almost done for him

"Tank, iron defence!" Absol's final strike bounced off, knocking both pokemon back. Lairon was able to get itself right side up again.

By then both pokemon were down to their last hit.

"Tank, take down!" Absol jumped to the side as he charged.

"Iron tail" My Lairon turned and hit Absol on her side with his tail.

"Now, pokeball, GO!" I threw the pokeball at Absol. It seemed like it didn't even struggle.

"Yes! I caught an Absol!" I shouted at the sky in joy. "Wow that was embarrassing!"

Tank looked at me as if to say "_You seriously just did that?_"

"Yeah yeah." I sent out my Absol. She too was looking at me with the same questioning look.

"You too?" I sigh in exasperation. "So I want to give you a nick name. Just tell me when you hear of you like…"

I began spouting out names I think would fit her.

"Axel… Blake… Cinder… Div… Echo…" Absol made a sound at that last one "Echo. Do you want me to call you echo?"

The Absol nodded.

"Wow. That was a lot shorted than I expected" I glanced at Tank "Unlike with you." (Tank took three days to begin answering to his new nick name)

My Lairon seemed to laugh at that comment. I sighed.

"Well, Echo…" I looked at my Absol "Let's go. I want you to meet my mom."

* * *

"Oh, it's that wonderful Absol that warned me about the earthquake"

"Wait mom you've met her before?"

"Yes. A few hours ago it jumped into the clearing and urged me to move the camp a few feet closer to the center. Wouldn't you know it, an hour later, an earthquake made a tree fall right where our camp was the hour before."

My mother went up to Echo and began petting her "Thank you dear. Welcome to the family"

I looked at Echo and she nodded at me. Well isn't that nice, I thought with a smile.

It'll be a few weeks before she's big enough to ride on, but I can wait.

* * *

It's been four days since we left Slateport – nearing five days as the sun was about to set. Meaning, it's been around six days since I left home.

In that time, I caught an Absol, evolved my Aron and Wingull, and won seven trainer battles. Overall, I'd say it was a good start considering it hasn't even been a week since I started my journey.

"Won't be long now" My mother said as she consulted her map. "We should reach Mauville by tonight."

As I strode alongside Pix, and on his back, my mom, and I saw that the large buildings of Mauville city were visible from above the tree line.

Alright, I thought as I increased my pace. Mauville City Gym, here I come.

* * *

**A/N:**

**-Hi there. Well, here's to another chapter thrown into the sea of pokemon fanfics. I hope you enjoyed.  
-No, Absol cannot be caught at Route 110. I'm sorry.  
-Mightyena cannot be found on Route 110 either. My deepest apologies.  
-How that youngster beat Wattson with a Wingull and Plusle, I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure it out so I can incorporate it into the next chapter.  
-I didn't put a lot of content for when they were in Slateport did I? There's a reason for this.  
-The main attractions in that city are the seaside market, the ship yards, the pokemon contest building, the oceanic museum, the beach, and the battle tent.  
-Alex has no interest in pokemon contests or marine life, he lives on an island so he's probably fed up with the beach, and he didn't pay any attention to the battle tent as he was busy looking for his mom, though he might have tried it if she didn't wander off.  
-Next chapter: Mauville city! Bikes! Gambling! Another gym battle! More cliché and boring words from me! Coming to you next week…! Probably…! Maybe… I don't know… I'll update it when the next chapter is done, that much is sure… I hope…**

**Please review. What am I doing wrong? Is my story bad? Should I just put in more content? Help me out here guys.**


End file.
